Elson Trinidad is the Managing Editor of KCET's 50th Anniversary website. On KCET.org's blogs, he also writes the "Transpacific Routes" column on the waves and currents of So Cal's Asian/Pacific Islander communities, and the "Concrete and Chaparral" column on our local urban and native ecosystems.
A KCET viewer since the mid-1970s, Elson describes himself as "The Filipino kid who grew up listening to black music in an Armenian neighborhood where people spoke Spanish and ate Thai food." A native Angeleno with a penchant for creativity and community, his weapons of choice include a microphone, a piano, a laptop, and a shovel.

Favorite KCET Show:

Huell, Globe Trekker, NHK Newsline's weather forecast when they play that soothing song.

It's an under-appreciated, but extremely fundamental task, done every day for the past 50 years, to keep KCET running on the air, which requires a lot of electricity, a lot of equipment, and a lot of backup systems in order to happen.

The L.A. County Holiday Celebration, which KCET broadcast live for 49 years, is a uniquely SoCal tradition which highlights our region's unrivaled racial, ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic diversity.

I've never really considered myself a historian. I've always been interested in history, though. When KCET tapped me to manage this 50th Anniversary website, it was both an honor and a huge responsibility.

We're launching this 50th anniversary site to share with you our story of how we evolved from a community-supported educational television station based in Hollywood, to an independent, transmedia presence in not only Southern California, but nationally and internationally.

On May 18, 1969, downtown L.A.'s Angels Flight Railway was dismantled as part of the city's Bunker Hill Redevelopment project. Built in 1901 by engineer and lawyer J.W. Eddy as the Los Angeles Incline Railway, the 315-foot funicular carried two...

In September 1968, the 40-story Union Bank Building opened as Los Angeles' first modern skyscraper, the first part of downtown L.A.'s growing skyline. The 515-foot tall building, designed by the local architecture firm Albert C. Martin and Associates was the...

On June 5, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, was shot following a speech at the Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard. On the night of June 4, the date of the California primary...

On August 11, 1965, a drunk driving arrest touched off a public skirmish involving local residents and law enforcement, eventually erupting into six days of rioting on the streets of the Los Angeles community of Watts.

On the week of January 20-28, 1965, KCET formally dedicated the station with special programs and events to focus on the purposes and goals of the station and launch the formal start of KCET's membership and fundraising drives.

On June 6, 1978, California voters passed Proposition 13, a ballot initiative that amended the state constitution to lower property taxes in the state and place limitations on the increase or implementation of new taxes.

On November 22, 1977, the First episode of KCET's "The Cousteau Odyssey" documentary series premiered, which chronicled the underwater explorations of Jacques Cousteau and the crew of his exploring ship, the Calypso. Explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, and author Jacques Cousteau was...

The team only stopped wearing the names on the backs of their jerseys for two seasons (the minimum required time for a uniform change). I hope you're aware that Davey Lopes is back with the team, this time as their...

Singapore had the exact problem we had back in the 1950s-1960s; illegal food vending was rampant, ubiquitous, yet still in demand by the public. They solved the problem by establishing outdoor food courts known as "hawker centres" which contain sanitation...

Ethnic communities are actually named so more due to nationality and linguistics than solely ethnicity per se -- it's only because for the most part, nationality and ethnicity are interchangeable terms when it comes to immigrant groups. Case in point:...

What's also interesting about the Balikbayan Box is that other immigrant cultures have adopted their own version of it; at LAX, I see passengers bound for Guatemala or El Salvador check in large cardboard cubes -- packed in packing tape...

True, but this situation is hardly unique to Historic Filipinotown. Koreatown's population is only 33% Asian (and that statistic also includes Filipinos, Chinese, Bangladeshis and Mongolians *in addition to* Koreans). Thai Town's population is majority Latino and Armenian. So statistically...

In theory, I think every Angeleno would support a larger city council that represents more districts in the city with a smaller individual populace. In practice, though, the assumed cost of additional field offices, staff, expenses and councilmember salaries (even...

CicLAvia is many things to many people, but the biggest thing that makes me smile are the sight of parents walking or biking in the middle of the street alongside their smiling young children in small bikes with training wheels....

It's an under-appreciated, but extremely fundamental task, done every day for the past 50 years, to keep KCET running on the air, which requires a lot of electricity, a lot of equipment, and a lot of backup systems in order to happen.

The L.A. County Holiday Celebration, which KCET broadcast live for 49 years, is a uniquely SoCal tradition which highlights our region's unrivaled racial, ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic diversity.

I've never really considered myself a historian. I've always been interested in history, though. When KCET tapped me to manage this 50th Anniversary website, it was both an honor and a huge responsibility.

We're launching this 50th anniversary site to share with you our story of how we evolved from a community-supported educational television station based in Hollywood, to an independent, transmedia presence in not only Southern California, but nationally and internationally.

In July, 1969, the purchase of four new RCA cameras finally gave KCET the ability to broadcast in full color.

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